Pre tournament fixtures

http://www.oceaniafootball.com/ofc/News/ViewArticl...

sounds like Tahiti played aggressively:

Argentine coach: "Our players develop in the Coupe Libertadores, they need to play in that same way. What they're preoccupied with is the kicking, the players are becoming nervous and I'm becoming nerous. We came here for a friendly match, we came here to prepare."

Why would they play Tahiti as part of there preparations?

2-1 to Austria , 25th minute in. Clayton Lewis with our goal

They lost 4-2. hope they have learnt alot from these warm up games. 

Great second first goal to Rufer. Clayton Lewis. First time shot from a Stevens cross. Blake missed two good chances at the end, again from crosses from the right (Holthusen?) They looked more competetive than v Honduras I thought. Still think Patterson should get more time than he's getting. Rufer rarely wins ball from 50/50's for some reason. 

Anyway, next game is the real thing.

PS Nasty weather conditions - big winds & frequent rain squalls - didn't help make it a flowing game. Flowing at the bar though. Nice to see the Tuiloma family in attendance. Proud parents.

Went to this.

Serious talent.

A bit surreal wandering down to the local park to watch Panama v Uzbekistan. Finished 2 all. Standard very good, some real speedsters and pretty full on for a "friendly". This tournament is going to be very cool and a great boost for football.

Twitter says Brotherton.

Good croud too.

Can't see either of Panama nor Uzbekistan making it out of their groups. There were patches of really good technical skill, but then it was undone by some really average play. Lots of long balls down field from Uzbekistan in the first half that went for goal kicks, for example.

Went down to Uruguay vs Ukraine, decent first half Ukraine look really organised and have what will become a very fine Cb (no idea what his name is though #anticlimax)

Skipped the second half to see USA vs Serbia at Trust's Stadium. Upon arrival it turns out the match is a private match as per USA's request... stood and watched behind a fence with a group of Serbs and didn't see anything. This is why no one likes you USA.

Weather was not the best out at Bay city park. Had to keep going in and out because of the rain, was a good chance to refresh my drink.

Can't say to much about the game, but do agree with others when they say we lack some pace in the team

The Uzbeks made the quarter-finals last time in Turkey.

In group play they beat NZ 3-0, drew with Croatia 1-1 and lost to Uruguay 4-0.

In the Round of 16 they beat Greece 3-1

Lost 4-0 to eventual champions France in the quarter-final with Pogba amongst the goals. 

Yeah. meant first goal - and not to Rufer, to Clayton Lewis. Lesson: don't post after you've been to the bar. Excuse: bollock-freezing cold/wet/scrambled....

This

Wasn't a bad croud for an utterly miserable afternoon at Bay City Park - perhaps 1500 ?

Hard to tell anything from the match given the conditions , but there certainly was a gulf in class between the two sides.

Tuiloma looked a cut above anyone else in NZ side and certainly the equal of anything in the Austrian side apart from the last 10 minutes when his radar went awry - although to be fair it was hard to pick out black shirted payers against the croud background on the western touchline as the light deteriorated.

Thought Lewis looked the best of the rest who to be fair haven't been playing at that higher level.

Conditions may have contributed to it , but a lot of our tactics seemed to focus on hitting it long to Rufer , which didn't work very well. Looked a lot better when we tried to bring Lewis and Stevens (wonder if his shoulder is still a problem ?) into play.

looked okay at the back , although I thought the GK (Sail?) might have done better on two of them. Edge might have to be careful with his language - not sure that some of the FIFA refs will give him the same leeway as yesterday 

Finished 1:0 to Serbia. A comfortable win according to some Serbian web sites.

Uruguay beat Ukraine 2-1....and since Panama beat Uruguay 1-0, and NZ beat Panama 2-1....then NZ should be beating Ukraine by 2...mathematics football rarely the same as the on pitch football though ?

Brazil defeated Portugal 1-0. At one point there was massive meelee featuring both teams and benches.

Was that at Wakefield on Friday night Dale? :-)

Aus 442 on the Brazil vs Portugal game

Handbags:

Jesus is that Stebre ??? #Doomed

Hungary beat Fiji 7-0 today in Cambridge...very cold, windy and wet and the poor Fijians weren't liking the conditions.   Hungary very slick and quick, one touch passing and movement off the ball

Training schedule in Wgtn for the next week or so

Wellington U20 trainings

Good find, let's hope the other venues publish their training schedules as well

Would love a Auckland one